Throughout the ages students, teachers, as well as critics have been analyzing literature using various approaches. The question that we are asking is whether we can get a cohesive understanding of the text while using these five different approaches. We will be using the following five approaches and looking at the results as a whole to see if all approaches make sense in the context of the story: Feminist, reader response, structuralism, style, and psychoanalytic. We will be applying these five approaches to that of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935)
Gilman had a difficult childhood due to the fact that her father, Fredrick Beecher Perkins, abandoned his family shortly after Charlotte was born. This abandonment put a strain on Charlotte’s mother, Mary Westcott, as well as her brother and herself. They moved constantly and barely kept their heads above poverty. It was this experience that helped to fuel her thoughts on “the difficulties a woman faced” and vowed herself to be self-supporting so as to not be in a situation like her mother’s. After the birth of her first child, Gilman fell into depression which could not have been properly diagnosed during this time.
Seeking out professional help, Gilman was told to stay at home and to only expose herself to the simple tasks of the domestic life. She was told, specifically, not to pick up a pen, pencil, or any type of writing utensil because that would only make her depression worse. Assuming that this doctor knew what he was talking about, Gilman did exactly what he told her to do. After three months of mostly bed rest and no writing at all, Gilman found herself on the verge of losing her sanity. Thanks to a friend, she was able to begin writing again and the first piece of writing she produced was “The Yellow Wallpaper” which was first published in 1899.
In 1900, Gilman married her first cousin, George Houghton Gilman. During her successful career as a writer, she produced essays encouraging women to step outside their typical roles in the domestic sphere and to embrace their womanhood. Gilman is also responsible for creating the journal Forerunner as well as contributing to the creation of the women’s peace party with Jane Adams. When it was discovered that she had inoperable cancer, Gilman committed suicide in 1935 at the age of 75.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman "The Yellow Wallpaper"
Purpose:
Throughout the ages students, teachers, as well as critics have been analyzing literature using various approaches. The question that we are asking is whether we can get a cohesive understanding of the text while using these five different approaches. We will be using the following five approaches and looking at the results as a whole to see if all approaches make sense in the context of the story: Feminist, reader response, structuralism, style, and psychoanalytic. We will be applying these five approaches to that of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935)
Gilman had a difficult childhood due to the fact that her father, Fredrick Beecher Perkins, abandoned his family shortly after Charlotte was born. This abandonment put a strain on Charlotte’s mother, Mary Westcott, as well as her brother and herself. They moved constantly and barely kept their heads above poverty. It was this experience that helped to fuel her thoughts on “the difficulties a woman faced” and vowed herself to be self-supporting so as to not be in a situation like her mother’s. After the birth of her first child, Gilman fell into depression which could not have been properly diagnosed during this time.
Seeking out professional help, Gilman was told to stay at home and to only expose herself to the simple tasks of the domestic life. She was told, specifically, not to pick up a pen, pencil, or any type of writing utensil because that would only make her depression worse. Assuming that this doctor knew what he was talking about, Gilman did exactly what he told her to do. After three months of mostly bed rest and no writing at all, Gilman found herself on the verge of losing her sanity. Thanks to a friend, she was able to begin writing again and the first piece of writing she produced was “The Yellow Wallpaper” which was first published in 1899.
In 1900, Gilman married her first cousin, George Houghton Gilman. During her successful career as a writer, she produced essays encouraging women to step outside their typical roles in the domestic sphere and to embrace their womanhood. Gilman is also responsible for creating the journal Forerunner as well as contributing to the creation of the women’s peace party with Jane Adams. When it was discovered that she had inoperable cancer, Gilman committed suicide in 1935 at the age of 75.
This is where I got my info:
http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/386/cgilman.html
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